Original Sin
by Azrael Adrift
Summary: AU. Changed the story a bit, but it still has the same premise. A story from Heero's POV. He's something of a 'vampire' in this one, and his city's been occupied with a lot of trouble lately. Sorry for the poor summary. Just read it and tell me what you
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimers: **All the usual disclaimers apply. Characters are unfortunately not mine, but the storyline is. Please don't sue a poor student...

**Author's Notes:** Hello! Here's a story from Heero's point of view. During the course of writing, I'll probably go back to earlier chapters to rewrite and edit, just in case it feels like things aren't consistent, or the narrative 'voice' isn't consistent. I'll post up all the changes in my profile page. I hope you bear with it and since I'm fairly new in the GW fan writing department (no, not an author by any stretch of the imagination, unfortunately…), any help or pointers would be much appreciated. Thanks again and hope you enjoy this.

Oh, and I rewrote major parts of this first chapter. I thought maybe it was too bland before? Uh, yeah…and now, back to your regularly scheduled program…

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**Anomalous (Part I)**

_What makes the fool a fool and the wise man wise? I always thought I could differentiate one from the other, having lived longer and experienced more than the average lifespan would allow. I didn't know how wrong I could be until I found myself questioning everything I had ever learned, and doubting the ones who loved me most._

_I don't know exactly when it started, but it was definitely after I had been transformed into what humans like to call a 'vampire', a most erroneous name, since most of the things myths and B-movies portray don't apply to us. _

_I'm not saying we're invincible just because we can walk around during the day and can eat the same food as humans do. It certainly doesn't take a stake to kill us, though we've been known to survive quite a few tragedies because of our enhanced healing skills. Think Wolverine from the X-Men universe, sans the nifty titanium exoskeleton. Come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about._

_So yes, a 'vampire' is what I am. It's not as glamorous as people make it out to be. Oh, we have vampire politics as gritty as any mafia scene, but after all the bullets have zipped through the screen in slow-mo, and after guys in black penguin suits have been thrown across the room in physics-defying grandioso style, what's left is dead bodies. And I've had enough of dead bodies to last me one hundred lifetimes. _

_But I digress. It's something I'm prone to do because frankly, I have all the time in the world. Perhaps that's a little conceited of me to think so, but you know what they say: "never judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins_"(1).

_Hence, walk awhile with me. Learn who I am and what weaknesses lie beneath my skin. My story doesn't start with my birth. Those memories elude me, and the man I was before my transformation no longer exists. It begins with a phone call._

_>>>>> _

Several hours passed midnight I was about ready to crash—my head hurt that much—when Christiaan Burattini (2) called from the coroner's office. He was our liaison between the human world and our own for all criminal-related activities, and ensured that the humans stayed oblivious to our existence. Whether that included changing evidence or "accidentally" erasing files, he was our main source of anonymity in a world that's become too dangerous for our kind.

Don't get me wrong; there were a lot of us who walked the streets as 'real' people with identities in government databanks, but the majority of us didn't exist on paper. Burattini and I played the roles of an officer and a student, though we were more than what was written on citizenship cards and electronic documents.

I watched smoke tendrils drift toward the red exit light from Burattini's cigarette. He was a chain smoker; you could tell from his yellowed nails and the way he held his cigarette expertly between his fingers. It was an art form he'd perfected over the years, puffing out hazy creatures into the air like a stage magician.

Another one of our people had been found dead in the park. Including tonight's killing, that was four deaths in three weeks. This was either a case of really bad luck, or there was someone systematically taking our kind out. The question was who, and why?

Burattini puffed another apparition into the pre-dawn air and drew an envelope from the folds of his trench coat. It was a copy of the autopsy report done by one of our people.

Though the body was found by a human walking his dog at night, only our people followed through with taking the corpse away and filing the official report. All this was accomplished through expert tapping of communication lines, but a little mind and memory manipulation went a long way too.

"I included the other three reports so you can compare. Me and the boys think there might be two different killers." He paused to take another drag on his hourly fix. I watched the smoke ring his head like misplaced haloes. "Even though all of them were killed with firearms," he continued, a fierce light suddenly in his eyes, "this autopsy shows evidence of a double tap."

The infamous double tap. No wonder Burattini's eyes glowed. Even after all these years, he still hasn't perfected the technique. I only knew one person who could shoot two bullets landing a hair's breadth from one another on the target, but he couldn't have been at the scene of the crime because he was on duty tonight at one of Julian's meetings.

"Joe thinks the same type of silencer was used for all four crimes," he paused, taking out a small piece of paper from his pocket. "Here, this is Joe's phone number if you need more info. After you check out those reports, he wants to run a theory by you. And get some sleep Heero. You look like shit."

No kidding. I had a midterm the next day and spent most of the night studying. I felt information leaking out of my ears as the hours passed.

He finished his cigarette and pushed the ends of the butt to the bricks of the station's back alley wall before finally letting it fall to the ground. His straw hair, washed red from the light, stood out in odd angles that complemented his sharp face and beaky nose. His eyes were narrowed, though there was a faint smirk on his lips.

"There's only one consolation to tonight's killing. That idiot, Alex Mueller, is finally dead."

I hummed in agreement, but inside, I became tense. Alex Mueller had many enemies, which made the task of finding the killer (or killers) more difficult.

After meeting with Burattini, I headed back toward my house and thought more about Mueller. He had been a thorn in everyone's side since the day he came to our city from out of nowhere. He was probably kicked out from his last city for being a jerk of the finest degree.

He was a damn gorgeous guy, and to everyone's dismay, he knew it and flaunted it. Not only that, but he liked transforming people. In Julian's city, transformations weren't forbidden per se, but there was a rule that you had to be responsible for every transformation you made.

Unfortunately, he did take care of his transformations, but they turned out to be Mueller-worshipping dolls, annoying in the same way that flies and mosquitoes are annoying: even if you swat one of them down, they keep coming back, and in greater numbers.

After this recent report, I thought that maybe someone had finally ordered a hit on the fool, but that left the other three murders unaccounted for. My head had been clearing up, but now I really wanted to go to bed. It's not like murders among our kind were rare; it was just that lately, it had been pretty peaceful. I guess I had just gotten used to the quiet.

Streetcars screeched past, sometimes failing to stop if they were even slightly full. I shook my head. I had given up on public transportation a long time ago, giving in to the urge to buy my own car. I'd kind of wanted one ever since Karl Benz came out with the first internal combustion engine. But that was a long time ago, and cars have come a long way since.

There's a 24-hour pizzeria close to where I live. They have the greatest pizza there. During the day, I often passed by just to catch a whiff of the cheese. The owner was an Italian lady named Luiza who lived with her son above the pizzeria. We've gotten to know each other very well since I've been attending the local university. I grinned when I saw the light flicker on in one of the second floor rooms. Jorge and I were in the same class, and unlike me, was trying to get a few more hours of studying before the midterm.

When I got back to the house, it was complete pandemonium. There were penguin suits running all over the place, holding batons like Neanderthals and chasing after the Terrible Three from Richmond Hill. I could see Anax on the stair banister, her arms folded and a look of annoyance crossing her features every so often. Sensing my presence, she turned to look at me, her face relaxing.

Gliding towards me and somehow managing to avoid the traffic, she took my hand and raised it to her slightly smirking lips.

"As you can see, this house falls apart when you are gone, Heero, even if only for a little while."

"Yes, I can see that. What's up?"

She sighed and let go of my hands. "The Terrible Three kidnapped Relena, possibly as a joke, but now they don't know where she is."

A penguin suit ran passed me and I grabbed on to his coattails, spinning him around until we were face to face. His eyes went wide and he stammered, "Hee…heero…" As soon as my name left his lips, the chaos suddenly died down.

"What's going on here?" I asked, my tone neutral. Hopefully I wasn't giving off any threatening vibes, since I really didn't like them being here. In any case, it was always easier to get answers when people thought you weren't angry with them.

The penguin suit visibly calmed, though his shoulders were still tense.

"We came by after the meeting tonight with Julian. We still wanted to talk to him about…something, but he just flew off in a hurry."

Yeah, after Trowa left him, you mean, so you guys could gang up on him here and make him change his mind. What idiots. As if Julian would ever let himself be intimidated by them. Ultimately, Julian had the last say and could out-veto any proposal made by another council member.

Oh, he listened to their ideas, but if they held no merit or weren't feasible, they were tossed out like yesterday's salad. And Julian had no qualms about hurting the prides of his overly-sensitive council members. He would say in a smug voice, "It's good for them. Maybe some of them will actually grow spines, or better yet, acquire some sorely needed brain cells."

I smiled at the memory of Julian's words. The penguin suit misinterpreted my smile, but I saw no reason to enlighten him. Behind me, Anax covered a smirk, knowing exactly what I had been thinking about.

"And it took all of you to discuss this…something with Julian?" I asked, by now thoroughly amused and annoyed.

The guy flushed and backed up a step when one of the older council members tapped him on the shoulder. He towered over me like a schoolyard bully.

"Listen _Heero_," he sneered my name like it was something distasteful and continued with a haughty voice, "don't act smart with me. You're not even part of the council. I could crush you like this." He pounded his fist on the palm of his other hand, the fat making a loud smacking noise. He probably could, but not before I extracted his heart first. His bravado was for show; he knew exactly how empty his threats were.

I turned to Anax and completely ignored him, feeling his rage seethe and not being able to have an outlet until later. I was sorry for the fool who encountered him in this condition. Honestly, where did Julian find these guys? Oh _yeah_, he didn't. The whole council was a joke. After all, it was amusing to watch puppets play at acquiring power.

I sighed and rubbed the space between my eyes. I really needed to sleep.

"Okay, so where does the whole running-around-the-house-like-idiots part come in?" I asked one of the other penguins who had come closer. I knew him to be the only rational and worthy member of the council. I was surprised he was part of this group.

"Andrel," I acknowledged.

One side of his mouth lifted before he schooled his features again. It was a habit he could never get rid of. Me too.

"We were assailed by the boys when coming out of your house. We thought it was an attack, and when someone realized it was just the Terrible Three, all hell broke loose. Everyone was just so mad, and all the while they kept screaming that Relena is missing."

Andrel pushed the blonde hair from his face. He looked like he could use some sleep too. I could imagine just how long and drawn out the meeting had been.

Meanwhile, Anax pushed the rest of the idiots out of the house, leaving behind Andrel and the Terrible Three, who were trying to look everywhere but at me. I sighed. This was going to be a long session.

"Okay, can we sit in the parlour?"

Once we were settled, I turned to the Terrible Three with a neutral face. Andrel stood close to the fireplace, his face turned away from me and staring into the fire.

"What happened to Relena?"

Their unofficial leader, Milliardo, stepped forward from his comrades, his long platinum hair catching light from the fire. He was the only one of them that I knew was no fool, although he sure knew how to play one.

"I decided to kidnap Relena. I drove her to Gino's house to pick them up, telling her to stay in the car, but when we got back, both Relena and the car were gone." Worry lines creased his forehead. "I know I locked the doors, so it couldn't have been some random stranger, though I'm sure she could have taken care of herself if that had been the case."

"Okay, so she drove off with your car?"

"Errr…no. She couldn't have because I took the keys with me. And I highly doubt Relena knows how to hot-wire a car." There was a slight lift to his worried face that fell as he continued. "I'm sorry Heero. I take all the blame for this. These guys, they just followed along. You know how it is."

I had to give the guy credit. He knew his mistakes and admitted them, though just because he stood up for his friends, I had no doubt that when he asked blame to be put on himself, he probably deserved it. The other two didn't have enough brain cells between them to constitute coherent thought or planning. I don't even know why he kept them around him when it was obvious Milliardo was smart enough to become more than a random nuisance.

I dismissed his last words with a wave of my hand. I wasn't interested in laying blame. What could I do? Kill them? There was enough blood on my hands. I just wanted to know where she was now, although I was also curious as to why Milliardo wanted to steal Relena away.

I asked him and he tried very hard not to blush. "I…uh…just wanted to talk to her," he said, sticking out his chin at the last minute as if daring me to challenge his statement. There was still a hint of red on his cheeks. Interesting.

I looked at Anax through the side of my eyes. She was taking a sip of merlot by the parlour's small bar, her left eyebrow lifted in amusement as she watched Milliardo.

"I have a tracking device on my car. We didn't just, you know, panic and run to your place. We couldn't pick up a trace though."

When he saw the smirk on my face, he blushed, asking, "What?"

"You have a tracking device on your car," I stated dryly.

"It's a camaro!" cried one of his cronies.

"You have one on your motorcycle!" Milliardo fired back. True, but I wasn't going to blush about it. It was my baby.

Failing to get a rise out of me, the long-haired man continued with the business at hand. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing right now. How long ago did this happen? I'm sure it's not long enough to create the panic that you guys seem to induce wherever you go."

"So you don't care that she might be in trouble?" he asked with an edge to his voice.

Of course I do, but he didn't need to know how much I wanted to run for her right now. Especially with the murders happening, I was doubly worried. "Relena can take care of herself for the most part. She may be naïve, but you should give her more credit, Milliardo. She's not a doll."

"No, but she's not a fighter either. What if it's one of your enemies?" He gasped as he said that last word, though I didn't see the point. It wasn't a secret that I had enemies.

"And you would know this how?" I asked him pleasantly, my smile showing my teeth. One of his cronies shivered.

Squaring his shoulders, Milliardo stood up to his full height. "Look, I didn't plan for her to get kidnapped by someone else. _I_ wanted to kidnap her. Not someone else. And no, it wasn't for anything sinister, if that's what you're thinking."

Even though they were rough and troublesome, Relena was safe with the Terrible Three, but alone with Milliardo? I don't know why that scenario made my teeth clench. And no, it wasn't jealousy or any variation thereof.

Besides, Milliardo was hiding something. He was just a little too worried about her safety. And he was really milking the young-and-innocent-fool persona he often wore, even though he's actually older than I by almost half a century.

Anax moved then. I turned to her but she was moving toward Andrel. She touched his left shoulder lightly and he expelled a breath of frustration.

I raised my eyebrow. "Andrel?"

He turned to me—I thought I saw a hint of embarrassment colour his cheeks, but that could have just been a trick of the light—and shrugged, saying, "It's been a really long night."

I had to grin at that. At least one of us was showing his true colours. Even when we were in the war together—I forget now if that was in Somme…or was that with Trowa?—he was always the first one to admit when he was tired, or hungry enough to kill our fellow soldiers. He never did. I admired him for his strength.

I turned back to the Terrible Three. "Okay, you guys can go. I'll ask Burattini to send out a search party if she doesn't come home by 12 o'clock this afternoon. If she shows up before then, give me a call."

Milliardo nodded, probably relieved that I hadn't questioned him further. I really wanted to perform a pull-their-teeth-out style interrogation right now. When it comes to Relena, I admit I can be a little vicious, but then again, only Anax and Julian really know how much I care about that girl. I'd like to keep it that way.

It's enough that most vampires already know she's one of _mine_, but to actually know that I would do anything to protect her is dangerous.

I rarely transform humans. I hate knowing that I've changed someone beyond his or her control, but I'm not perfect. So it happens, and they don't always hate me.

More often than not, I kill them shortly after; I hate troublesome fools. In Relena's case, although she hung out with the Terrible Three after being transformed, I held back from killing her. I felt guilty because she was so young, and because I know she had enjoyed her life before I came along.

Maybe it was because she was close to the same age as I when I was transformed that I felt a greater affinity for her situation.

After they left, Andrel let out another huge breath. "What a night, huh?"

"Yes, a night without some Terrible Three fiasco occurring is when pigs fly," I said, "And coupled with council politics, this night…hmm…morning now, I guess, is really turning out to be magical."

"_Simply_ magical," Anax parroted, a quirk on her lips.

"Okay, so what's up with the council?" I know we were all tired, but I wanted to know what was so important to the council that they wanted to squash Julian into submission.

"You know we've had some recent "visitors" from Chicago, right?"

Anax snorted. "More like squatters."

I nodded for him to continue.

"Well, there are some council members who think they might be responsible for the recent murders. I mean, it seems likely. We haven't had this kind of panic for awhile now, and as soon as they come in, bang! Just like that, we have murders and even more crap happening than usual."

"And they haven't even announced their presence to Julian yet," I stated. Newcomers to a city are always obliged to seek out the city leader and announce their presence.

"That too," he continued, "and I've heard rumours that they've actually been here longer than a month…that they've been hiding out for awhile. Maybe they're just bragging, but if it's true…" He trailed off, all of us knowing exactly what that meant.

Their move sans permission could be interpreted as an act of infiltration, or as crossing the Rubicon (3). I didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet, but it's always a good idea to be prepared for the worst.

The Chicago vampires were rounded up by Burattini's people and Chicago's leader was contacted to inquire about the move. That was less than a month ago but we haven't had word since. I knew Julian was pissed, but he had other things to worry about.

"And Theo Wendell's been talking to some of the Chicago vamps. They told him there's been a recent change in the social hierarchy, and that a new leader's taken the throne, so to speak."

"Is that why they left?" Anax asked.

"Don't know. In any case, the council wants them gone, but Julian's given them his protection. For now, at least. I have no idea why, especially since they're causing more trouble than they're worth."

I pursed my lips. "But no one's actually proven that they have anything to do with our recent troubles, right?"

"That's true, but come on. Put two and two together Heero. It's obvious that their presence here is linked with everything that's been happening recently. I bet they had something to do with the earthquake too!"

That was just a fish in the air, and I told him so. He flushed but backed down. Even vampires weren't powerful enough to conjure an earthquake.

Toronto wasn't known as an earthquake-prone zone, but there you have it. We just had a recent earthquake. Nothing spectacular like the ones in Japan—it was a 5.0 on the Richter scale—but it was enough to rattle the dishes and cause wall joints to show cracks. It was both surprising and disturbing.

We weren't situated on a major fault line, but scientists in the news said there was a normal fault line along the Rouge Valley in metropolitan Toronto. In fact, about three or four earthquakes occur everyday. We just can't detect them.

In any case, they claimed that we would never necessarily have to worry the way they do in other more vulnerable areas. I still wanted to equip all our buildings with flexible steel just in case.

"So that's it? They just want permission to off our Chicago visitors?" I asked. Julian knows that doing so might incur a backlash, and we still haven't heard word from Chicago about their status. If they're exiled, then we can do whatever we want with them. Otherwise, they're off limits. "Right now, they're just insulting Julian by not coming to him, but technically, they're still protected by their city."

"Why haven't we gotten rid of extraterritorialism?" he asked with a huff.

"So you think we should get rid of those troublemakers too?"

"Yes. Don't _you_? I thought for sure that if anyone would want them gone, it would be you." He folded his arms and looked at me with his left eyebrow raised.

I sighed. "Yes, well, it's one thing to want them gone and another to totally exterminate them. Besides, they might be causing trouble now, but watch how much trouble leaders can cause one another if they get riled up."

Andrel chuckled. "Yes, I know how powerful Julian can be. _And_ we still don't know what kind of powers the new leader in Chicago has, especially if he, or she, murdered the old one."

"Is that what happened?"

"Naw…just rumours, I think. Besides, wouldn't they have a tribunal then? I mean, if a leader was murdered?"

"That hasn't happened in awhile. Not enough powerful vampires around, that's why," interjected Anax.

"Yeah, who are the top dogs these days anyway?" Andrel asked with a tilt of his head toward Anax.

By this time, I really wanted to end our discussion. I knew enough to get me through the day, although I was debating whether I should try and find Relena myself. I told them we should get some shut eye.

"What about Relena," he asked before leaving. "What are you going to do about her?"

"Nothing for now. As I said before, she can take care of herself. If she hasn't turned up by tomorrow, I might have to do a little investigating myself."

He nodded, though there was something in his eyes I couldn't describe. "Alright, well, if I hear anything, I'll give you a shout. Goodnight. Uh, good luck. It's your exams today right?"

"No, just a midterm." It wasn't such a big deal. I had eternity to learn this stuff, or I could learn on my own, but I wanted to interact with humans. There was a time when doing the opposite led to terrible consequences.

He turned to Anax in quiet laughter. "Just a midterm he says! Man, I still don't know how you can stand those professors Heero. And the students! So intense!" He walked out into the early morning still chuckling.

After I closed the door, I leaned myself on its frame for a moment to catch my bearings. Anax touched my shoulder lightly.

"You're not going back out there to look for her." There was an undercurrent of command in her voice.

I still had to look at those autopsy reports, call Burattini and maybe even study a bit. How was I going to pull off a decent grade with this lifestyle? Honestly.

"Let me just call Trowa," I said, resigning myself to sleep afterwards. Trowa would take care of things.

I flipped my cell phone and dialed his number.

His clear voice answered on the other line: "Trowa."

He didn't even sound sleepy. Lucky guy. "Can you do a little discrete Relena-hunting for me?"

I could just imagine the quirk of his eyebrows, but he said, "Sure."

He hung up after that. Conversations with Trowa tended to be on the succinct side, which was fine by me. I preferred them to be like that, but eloquence and elaboration was usually required for the majority of people I knew. It took me a long time to learn that, but even now, I still reverted to laconic speech.

Anax pulled the phone from my fingers and I resigned myself to being drawn to her room. Finally. I really needed to sleep.

_The night was cold for June. I was huddled by the cow my mother called Ushi. She said it meant cow in Japanese. She would sometimes teach words to me, but warned me to keep them to myself. It was dangerous to speak them out loud._

_I knew that. We weren't welcome here in the Fraser River Valley. We had a few neighbours who were Japanese, but few people bought our goods outside the Asian community. It was a good thing we were farmers, able to provide most of our needs ourselves, but rampant jealousy coupled with nature's indiscriminate hand made life tougher than it had to be. Still, I was grateful I had mother and the farm. Others were not so lucky. _

_My mother and I are anomalies. She married an English immigrant named Odin Lowe and gave birth to a half-breed. Me. I can walk on both sides of the fence and still feel like an outcast. _

_But here in my farm, on this cold night, I felt welcome. Ushi's warmth made me feel warm._

_I was falling asleep, lulled by Ushi's breathing, when I heard a noise coming from the farmhouse. My mother was asleep, and she slept so heavily that if a storm had ripped through the valley, she would only discover it in the morning when she woke up amidst a pile of debris._

_I left Ushi in the barn, taking a light with me. It could have just been the wind, but I didn't want to take any chances. There were enough angry neighbours that trespassing and sabotage were likely culprits too. _

_There was a cloying scent in the air that sent me to the ground. The stench was so strong. I wrapped an arm around my belly to keep from hurling and forced myself to go on. I was worried about my mother. When my vision started to black out, I finally forced myself to think that something strange was going on here. _

_The next thing I knew, I found myself intimately introduced to a cobbled walkway. My face hurt and I thought my nose was broken. I was nowhere near my home. I figured I was either in Vancouver or Victoria, but how did I get here?_

_I must have been knocked out. I felt the back of my head for bruising but came up with no sign of an attack from behind. Suddenly, I felt deprived of air, and that my innards were being squeezed mercilessly out of my system. After what felt like an eternity of agony, I was back to normal, or as normal as someone who'd just had their breath knocked out of them can be._

"_Are you alright?" said a deeply cultured voice beside my fallen figure. I looked up quickly, only then noticing the shoes attached to the tailored suit in front of me. The man held out his hand and I took it clumsily, feeling like a halfwit._

"_I'm all right, thank you. Just ran out of breath, is all," I replied, embarrassed._

"_Ah. I was on my way home and saw you doubled over. I didn't know what to make of it, so I came over. I'm glad it was nothing sinister. Let me take you to my house…give you a chance to get your breath back. It's very close by, and I'm sure you want a drink."_

_The last was phrased more like a question, but I couldn't deny him. My house was so far away, and he was being so nice, so I went with him. He was very quiet as we walked to his house, but I felt something very powerful in him, like a well-spring of strength. Or something. It was bubbling up and I felt almost engulfed in it. _

_It was a heady feeling, and honestly, I don't even remember what road we took or where he led me, but the next thing I knew, we were in a brightly-lit hallway with bronze-coloured chaise lounges hugging the far walls, and a russet carpet extending the length of the room. _

_I followed him to a door on the right, opposite the chaise lounges; they were huge double doors that opened toward us with hardly a squeak on their hinges. Floors and doors were always creaking and squeaking in the farmhouse._

_All of a sudden, there was a babble of voices that instantly died down at the sight of us. I stared at the group of people in front of me as they stared back blank-faced. I could read curiosity and surprise from their auras, and there was also some apprehension there and I wasn't sure why._

_In any case, the man, who still hadn't told me his name, led me toward what I believed was the front of the room. I stared in wonder as I passed the people in their beautiful clothing; they were finer and richer than anything my parents or their friends owned._

_There was this ballooning feeling in my chest and it wasn't going away. I felt like an intruder in another world, and the more I watched them, the more I came to realize they weren't even human. I panicked and stopped in the middle of the throng, and the man—could I even call him that? —was immediately by my side, holding me steady._

"_Who…? Where am I?" I stuttered. It was a wonder that they could understand me because to my ears, I sounded like a confused frog._

_The man took both my hands in his and rubbed my arms in a soothing motion. He was being a tad too familiar with me, but even though I felt overwhelmed, all I could sense from him was genuine concern, so I forced myself to relax._

"_You're very tired right now, Heero," he said gently, "and it's better if we put you to bed. Everything else will be explained after you've rested."_

_After that, it was all a blur. I didn't even notice that he had known my name without my enlightening him. I felt my knees weaken and turn into jelly, and then someone, a big burly fellow, approached to take me in his arms. _

_When I finally came to, I was wrapped in heavy sheets and I felt like a steamed potato. It was so hot. I got up and took in my opulent surroundings. There was old power here, not only because of the apparent wealth of the place, but because the walls themselves were infused with some sort of magic._

_The door opened and the man from the night before came in. He was actually shorter than I thought, and I said so. He smiled and took a seat by my bedside, holding a jug of water. After he poured it into a glass, he handed it to me and I took it gladly. It tasted like flavoured water, but I couldn't place what it was._

"_I don't suppose we can just pretend that you're a normal young man who simply had too much to drink last night, and found refuge in my house for the night?"_

_I blinked at him._

"_No, I suppose not. You and I both know that there's something else going on here. I always knew there was something special about you. I just didn't expect we'd have to meet sooner than planned."_

"_Do I…know you?" I asked him, apprehensively. Had he been watching me? And if so, when? I didn't actually go into town that often._

"_Heero, what do you think I am?"_

_I was surprised enough by the question that I answered truthfully: "Certainly not…human."_

_There was a small smile on his face. "No, not human. But I was once human. A very long time ago." He paused, thinking about his next words, perhaps. "Listen, last night, someone tried to kill you."_

_I jumped up after hearing this, dropping the cup in the process. I watched in fascination as the liquid spread on the light-coloured sheets. I don't know if it was the light, but the liquid looked almost pink. Looking back up, I thought maybe he wanted to kill me too._

_He stood up while I was staring at the mess I'd made and tried to placate me. He didn't understand that I was actually afraid of him, because when he drew near to take my hands, I shrunk back and he was a little surprised. _

"_I mean you no harm," he said, "and I only mean to help you. I killed the creature that tried to kill you last night."_

_Despite being a stranger, he was able to calm my nerves. I asked him who would want me killed in the first place. Well, other than jealous neighbours. _

"_Not who, but what. I'm sure that you of all people know this world is not as black and white as the majority of people see it. There are shades of gray the world over, things unseen that walk the earth."_

_I sat back down. I couldn't deny his words. Ever since I was little, I had always wondered why no one else could see or feel the things I did, although I learned early on that it was wiser to keep my mouth shut, and ignore the other unpleasant things my gifts brought._

"_Why am I like this?" I blurted out. At that moment, I didn't care that I sounded like a small, scared child, but there was only kindness in his eyes, as if he understood where I was coming from._

"_There's no simple answer to that. Some people are just born with these gifts. I…there's a story…one day maybe you'll hear it from me…Anyway, I have long known you would be my heir."_

"_Huh?" Boy, I sounded intelligent. But what did he mean? Was I to become…whatever he was?_

_He walked to the window and pulled open the curtains. His dark hair blended with the night and I couldn't help but stare at his austere profile against the window. All of a sudden, he whipped around and threw a projectile at my head. His movement was so rapid I didn't even know when he had time to pull it out of wherever it was hidden. _

_The projectile spun wildly and I moved to press myself against the mattress, but I was too slow and it flew into my forehead. My hands flew up but there was nothing there. There had been no impact. I looked back at the man and the projectile, the knife, was back in his right hand. He was twirling it around as it defied gravity._

_His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of power there. It was like the calm before the storm. "There are forces in this world that defy human logic. You were made for me. To be my heir. The creature last night was a wraith, sent to steal you away from me by first taking away your powers, and then by swallowing you whole. It was a good thing I had people following you last night."_

_If he expected me to be grateful, I didn't give him the satisfaction. My heart was still pounding like a prisoner in a cage, and I was still too riled up over what he had done. He tired of talking to me then—I could see it in his eyes—and walked over to the bed. _

_He took my face in his hands and drew close enough that I could feel his breath tickling my face. I glared at him in defiance._

"_You were chosen because you have abilities that would serve my city well. I don't know if you've ever heard stories of…vampires, but that is what I am." _

_My eyebrows rose at this. My mother told me stories of the Japanese kasha and compared those to my father's vampire stories. I wouldn't want to be either._

"_That is what you are now." _

_My mouth hung open in disbelief. And then I laughed._

I came to when sunlight filtered through the windows to touch sly fingers on my face and eyelids. I groaned and felt around the bed for Anax. It was empty. I looked toward the dresser where sunlight couldn't reach. She was there pulling a comb through her red hair.

"What time is it?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"You have five minutes to make it to your test," she said, grinning.

"What? Are you serious?" I glanced at the clock on her wall and growled my disapproval. "Why didn't you wake me sooner? You know I have this test."

"I'm not your mother Heero. Besides, you have plenty of time to get to class, though…" I waited for her to continue, "Time's a ticking. You now have three minutes and fifty-six seconds."

I growled as I ran around the house getting my stuff together. That evil, evil woman. As I pulled my shoes on by the front door, she came down to hand me my keys and pecked me on the cheek once.

"Don't forget to call Joe about the reports."

"I haven't checked them yet," I said angrily. Stupid sleep. And on top of that, I had to have _that_ memory-dream again. I always had that dream when I was stressed, reminding me what kind of life I had left behind. Or rather, what I was forced to leave behind.

"Do you have them with you?"

I nodded and turned to go. I ran over some chemistry in my head while I ran to class. It was a short run because we lived close to campus. When I got there, everyone was buckled down in their seats and writing furiously. I was only a couple of minutes late. Apologizing to the teaching assistants, I took my paper and sat down to write the test.

Afterward, Jorge cornered me to ask what I put down for question number three.

"Which one was that again?" Honestly, I couldn't even remember. I wrote the test on auto-pilot.

"The one on electro-osmotic flow, man. What governs its magnitude?" He was grinning at me with hope in his eyes.

"Uh, zeta potential, I think. The measurement of cations at the capillary wall. Buffer capacity, applied voltage." I listed the rest of my responses for him and let my mouth speak while my mind wandered.

"Okay great. Thanks Heero. I think I did okay then. Man, I hope I did alright." He grinned and grabbed my arm to pull me to his pizzeria. "You look like you haven't had breakfast. Pizza's on me, okay?"

The bell jingled when we passed through the doors. The pizza smelled great. I waved at Luiza who was busy with another customer, and took a seat by the window. Jorge came after he grabbed a few slices of pizza from the back. He passed some napkins over.

"So, you gonna skip the rest of your classes? You look like you could sleep the sleep of the dead."

"Thanks," I said dryly. I am 'dead', moron. Oops, but he didn't know that. I was just a little cranky. I had so many things to do today, but he was human and required enough of my attention to warrant our being called 'friends'.

"No problem. What are friends for?" He grinned at me with cheese dripping from his lips. "Hey listen, it's Christy's birthday this weekend. I know she mentioned inviting you. Did you want to come? Bring Anax too. Have I mentioned how hot your girlfriend is?"

Jorge was not-so-secretly in love with Anax and brought her into our conversations as much as possible. He knew we just 'lived together'—that we weren't really going out. He wanted me to bring her along to our social outings, but Anax easily got bored with university boys and their parties. There were many broken hearts left in her wake, but she didn't want to hurt Jorge.

In reality, Anax and I weren't dating, per se. When I became Julian's successor-in-waiting, she became my consort. I didn't really want her then, but she got under my skin in more ways than one. I love her, but I'm not in love with her. She was a lover, but mostly she was my friend.

If she wanted Jorge, I wasn't going to go haywire over it. But she didn't, and so I had to tell him gently that she had other plans this weekend.

"You guys are just friends right?" he asked suspiciously, "Just to make sure."

"Yes, we're just friends. And no, Anax is not hot. She's elegant. There's a difference."

He hummed in agreement. "So you can't come to Christy's birthday then?"

"No, I think I want to study. I have an anthro test next week and I'm really behind on the reading." I wasn't that behind, but I did have more important things to do than fraternize with university kids.

"Okay, but next week we're going to get together for that chemistry assignment. Man, I hate these things. Why did I take this class again?" He sighed and continued chewing on his pizza.

After we parted, I decided to skip my one other class after all. I still had to check those reports, and I wanted to talk to Julian. I didn't sense his presence this morning, which means he left again, or he didn't come home at all.

After studying the first three reports, I decided to call Joe. I wanted to confirm my suspicions with him.

:Hey, you've reached me. My hands are tied at the moment. Call back later. Don't even leave a message. It ain't gonna go through.:

Right. That Joe. Always flirting with his coworkers. I shook my head. I studied the last report and winced. The shots were most likely done with a semiautomatic air rifle, which was weird. Double taps were usually done with handguns, but I guess control with rifles was easier than with handguns.

My cell phone rang. It was Joe. He apologized and told me to meet him at his lab, which was in the building next to the coroner's office. When I arrived, he met me for clearance and brought me to the third floor.

"Thanks for coming. I've been doing a lot of research since these murders have been happening. I also want to know what you think." He grabbed some papers from his messy desk and mumbled about bad secretaries.

Muttering a low "Aha!" he finally started filling me in and confirming all my suspicions. "The last murder was done with a semiautomatic air rifle, right? We don't license too many of those here. The only ones available for purchase are the Drulov DU-10 Eagle, the IZH Drozd or the Nightstalker."

He held up a magnified picture of the wound. "The caliber of the Nightstalker matches with the size of the entry and exit wounds. If the killer went for black market material, there's a wide range. But even so, we have access to the network if we need it."

"It's a Nightstalker. That's the only one, even among the illegal rifles, that has a signature ribbing on its bullets. That's what causes the ridges in the exit wound" I explained.

I have one in my arsenal, but it's under lock and key. No one could have gotten into my horde to steal it, but they wouldn't have had to anyway. Nightstalkers were pretty easy to acquire if you had a license.

"Ahh. I thought so. What I don't understand is why the killer would use such an identifiable weapon?" He tapped a finger on his nose and pushed his glasses back up.

"Hn. Well, I guess even if the weapon is easy to recognize, what does that say about the killer? Civilians can't get gun licenses, so that would limit our choice to the police."

"Yeah, if we were amateurs it would." Joe picked up the coffee on his desk to take a long sip. "But I get what you mean. Since the Nightstalker is one of the easier weapons to obtain, legally or otherwise, our killer could be anyone. Well, anyone with the ability to double tap, that is, and how are we supposed to find out a thing like that? Even if we go into firing range files, those won't include private shooters, assassins and other gun freaks."

"What about the first three murders? You said here in your report that these wounds only _look_ like they came from a firearm, right? Why is that? I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"Wraiths."

Damn. I thought we had gotten rid of them a long time ago. I asked him if he was sure.

"No, I'm not sure. The last time we heard of a wraith haunting our city was about twenty years ago. I'm not really sure how wraiths work. They don't really have tangible bodies, but I'd hate to think they're like cartoon creatures where, if you cut one down, it's replaced by two replicas."

He laughed suddenly. "Hey, maybe that _is_ their mechanism of survival. I wish I could somehow take a wraith and sample its structure. They look like gooey stuff right?"

I didn't actually know. The wraith that had attacked me the night I was transformed had been pretty invisible to me, but that could have just been because I was still human.

He continued more seriously, "Well, it's not like I can match the wounds with any of the firearms we have data for. That's why I'm going with this theory. Besides, whenever those creatures attack, they always go for the heart. Just like this first killer. I couldn't even find any literature or pictures of our people that have survived a direct covert attack, since the attacks were done in some random obscure place, or they were slashed up to the point of zero recognition."

"Which means we can't even compare it to anything we might have seen before," I stated wearily.

Damn, this royally sucked.

* * *

1. From Sharon Creech's "Walk Two Moons". Read it. It's funny and poignant and bittersweet and…all that good schtuff.

2. Christiaan Burattini – his name is a mixture of Christiaan Huyghens and Tito Livio Burattini; the former scientist worked on optics and was fascinated with the principles governing motion, while the latter built relatively complex ornithopters for his era. This guy's name is the only one I'll elaborate on. I'll leave the rest to you guys, if you feel like investigating, although some new characters really do just have random names pulled from my magic hat!

3. The Rubicon was a river in Italy that separated the Romans from the Gauls. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 CE, it was tantamount to declaring war.

Alright, so this is just the first part of the first chapter. It was getting really long, so I thought I'd cut it into two portions. Anyway, tell me how you like it and I'll try to get the second part of the first chapter out as soon as I can. School might get in the way, but we'll see.

Oh, and if there are serious mistakes in my gun lore, blame it on lack of resources. I tried to look up some information to get a general gist of how it all works, but I'm obviously no expert. If you know better and it irks you to read inaccuracies in my writing, please please please advise me. Thanks again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimers:** All the usual disclaimers apply. Characters are unfortunately not mine, but the storyline is. Please don't sue a poor student...

**Author's Note:** Bonjour! Comment ca va? I know it's been a long time since I updated this, but as I warned you guys, school got in the way! Argh! But now I'm on my summer break, so I'll have a bit more time to devote to this story. The "Anomalous" chapter isn't finished. It's going to be a lot longer, and I hope to have the last part of it out by next weekend. Anyway, on with the show!

Oh, and I just wanted to say thanks to those who reviewed. I don't get a chance to say thank you to anonymous reviewers, so here's my kudos to you. And don't forget to tell me how you think the story's progressing. All advice or suggestions pertaining to writing style are duly noted and appreciated.

**Warnings:** AU, OOC-ness depending on your perception of these characters, and swearing. Oh, and in case people didn't find this story by defining specific parameters under "character 1" and "character 2"—most likely the case, right?—I'd like to make it clear that this is a 1+2 story, though that doesn't necessarily imply that it's the major focus of the story, or that it'll happen anytime soon. Just know that it will and hopefully you all will bear with the wait. Thanks again!

* * *

**Anomalous (Part II)**

_I turn. Relena waves to me from the dock, her hair and sundress a-flutter from the wind. There's a big smile on her face, something I haven't seen for awhile. And then she's running to the end of the breakwater where a group of boys her age are pointing out at something bright and indistinguishable from the horizon. I can see their excitement as one of the boys starts jumping up and down, waving his hands, and I wonder what they are seeing that I can't._

_Suddenly, Relena is in the water and I wait with baited breath for her to surface. When she doesn't come up after a minute, the goose bumps on my skin prickle and my heart begins to constrict in alarm. I can't move, even though I want to go and jump in to rescue her. The panic in my heart abates as I see her head bobbing out of the waves._

_Then my face contorts to one of horror when I see the water around her head tinged with scarlet ribbons, flowing and swirling around and away from her. The wind picks up to a howling speed, so loud and yet not loud enough to drown out the distinct sound of laughter in the background._

_The boys are no longer on the docks. In fact, the landscape is devoid of all human life. There is only me, watching in morbid fascination as Relena drains out into the water, and that horrible screeching laughter._

I woke with a jolt when Anax touched my shoulder. It was now Saturday and I lounged with Anax on a cushion by the fireplace, the fire doing nothing to expel the coldness I felt. She opened her mouth to ask about my dream when there was a knock on the door. The frown on her face disappeared, and I knew she had put the incident out of her mind temporarily.

The book she had been reading to me earlier slid from her fingers when Trowa came in, his hair and jacket damp from the afternoon rain, and like a graceful feline, her body rose up to greet him. I watched with lidded eyes and a languor that belied my anxiety as she took the tall man's hands and led him to the little parlour to prepare him some cold duck.

"How have you been Trowa?" she asked conversationally, and in private, to me, she mind-spoke, _:Relax, Heero.:_, all the while listening and answering Trowa's inquiries.

I blinked. As usual, she could always read my body language better than anyone else. The fact that I couldn't read anything out of Trowa's countenance wasn't helping either.

It had always been like that with Trowa. Even before I began suppressing my powers, it was hard to figure out what the guy was thinking or feeling. It was one of the things that made him a great spy, but it also made it difficult for others to have a relationship with him—friendship or otherwise.

It was hard for people to accept his silence, either believing he wasn't interested in them, or that he was too insecure to voice his thoughts. He was neither. Trowa is usually a sturdy rock; when he opens his mouth, it's because the things that come out need to be heard.

"Heero," he said, his green gaze boring into mine. I took a breath, anticipating bad news. "She's at North York General Hospital and badly burned."

"Shit!" I stood up and went to the parlour to get my own drink. Even with our resilience and quick healing, burns were permanent. Touching my own burn scars on my right shoulder, I shuddered from the memory of getting too close to a German flame thrower.

_The explosion rocked the barracks. Trowa was still in there and damn it! Why were we here again? Even I, in my reckless stupidity, knew how idiotic this war was. I climbed over debris and called Trowa's name in fear._

'_I shouldn't be afraid', I told myself fiercely, trying to calm my nerves._

_Where was he? I scratched at my eyes, the heat and smoke affecting my ability to process information properly. Then I saw a pale arm lying against the flat part of the downed metal roofing. Saying a silent prayer to whatever god would listen, I quickly scrambled my way to the soldier, flinging large chunks of split wood to my right and left and not caring where they landed._

_It was Trowa and he looked unconscious. "Trowa!" I yelled and slapped at his cheeks. He groaned and I sighed in relief. He was alive._

"_Come on! We have to get out of here!" I checked for injuries but he seemed fine except for a few bumps and bruises. I lifted him up and was going to take him in a fireman's carry, but he pushed my hands away and shoved me into a run._

_We ran as fast as we could from the destruction. The darkness of the trench tunnels loomed ahead and I felt myself getting dizzy. I could still hear Trowa's footfalls behind me, so I kept going, but colours started blurring my vision. I needed air. I needed to kill those bastards for hurting Trowa!_

_Climbing the nearest ladder up, I took my rifle and began shooting aimlessly. I floated above my head, wondering why the hell I was laughing and cackling with glee. It was like I was separated from my body. Suddenly, I felt pain climbing up my arm and I was pulled back into my mind long enough to register the burn on my shoulder. I hadn't felt the heat—only the searing pain._

_I re-hefted my rifle back towards the target, intending to knock the flamethrower operators down from their forty seconds of fiery fame, but the shot blasted out into the night sky in a parabolic arch as I was knocked down from the ladder. Bright fire danced above me as I fell and landed hard on the ground with Trowa on top of me._

"_You could have been killed!" Trowa yelled, pounding my upper body into the trench several times and shouting the same thing over and over. It was the first time I ever saw him so thrown off balance. Finally, he stilled, his hair falling over his eye. "Keep your head, soldier" he ground out, before offering me his hand in apology. Still dizzy, I took it and we ran for cover farther into the trench._

"There weren't any recent accidents broadcasted on television." Blinking, I was pulled back into the present. Trust Anax to state the obvious. I guess they knew who Relena was then, since they would never allow the media to know she was there without first contacting her parents or guardians.

Trowa nodded and continued, "No one knows exactly what happened. I couldn't talk with her because she was sleeping off the painkillers."

"Who brought her to the hospital, and from where?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"Human paramedics brought her in from Sheppard. A salvage crew was there, so I'm guessing it was a car crash."

Damn. That sucked. We don't have anatomy that's radically different from humans, since we were once the same. If Trowa had contacts at the hospital, I hope they knew enough to cover our tracks. Otherwise, there would have to be some serious mind manipulation going on.

"And her parents?" Anax asked into the silence.

I closed my eyes in frustration, taking a deep breath. A tiny part of me wanted her to be reunited with them. It had been two years since she'd last seen them, and I knew she missed them more than she would ever let on. After all, it wasn't her choice to become a vampire, but if she ever wanted to be able to look at herself in the mirror again, we had to get her out of that hospital.

"They haven't allowed anyone access to her yet," Trowa said and I glanced at him in silence. Without my prompting, Trowa set down his glass and turned to go. He needed to curb a bloody disaster. We three have known each other long enough that our thoughts and ideas sometimes synchronized, and we'd know exactly what needed to be done. This was one of those times.

I wanted to stop him and send someone else. This couldn't be easy for the guy, but once Trowa set out to do something, he did it with resolve. Even if the situation stirred up memories of a time long passed. I respected him more for it.

Before Trowa was out the door, Anax touched his elbow lightly, telling him in our way of silent communication to be careful.

With Trowa gone, I wanted to abandon Anax to hide out in my own sanctuary, but she pulled me back toward her hard so that we were facing each other. I blew hair out of my face and sighed. It wasn't difficult for Anax to get information out of me.

"You look like a sulking child," she observed and tilted my face around to catch the light.

I chuckled. "I thought you said you weren't my mother."

"Hmm?" she asked distractedly as she played with my hair, tucking strays behind my ears. Then she patted my arm and led me back down to sit on the cushions. When we were settled, my head on her lap, she brushed fingers over the bridge of my nose and up my forehead. "I'm not your mother Heero, but I am your friend. So tell old Anax what bothered you enough that you got that look on your face after I woke you up?"

I snorted and tried for distraction. "You're not that old Anax." I knew she was old. Anax knew far too much of the ancient world for her not to be, but she was still infinitely younger than Julian, who felt older than his purported "seven centuries and counting, my boy".

She patted my cheek and smiled so that her cheeks dimpled. "You're so sweet Heero. Now stop trying to divert my attention by preying on my vanity."

We both laughed a bit before I sobered enough to remember my dream. I lay quietly for a while, knowing Anax could wait me out. We were both pretty patient creatures.

"I saw Relena dying," I finally said into the silence.

Her hand stilled on my head like I knew it would. I could count the number of people I truly cared about in one hand, give or take a few fingers depending on my mood, but I never really had dreams that involved them. When I did, the dreams were a harbinger of death. And they were always such vivid dreams—just like my memory-dreams. Why couldn't people just appear out of nowhere and say "Hey man! Blood and guts everywhere this Thursday…you better be there to bury me" instead of appearing like tragic movie stars on a visual pane where I had to extract what I could from the moving pictures within a limited time frame. Technology invaded people's waking moments enough; I didn't need it metaphorically taking over my unconscious state too.

"Maybe you're just being overly paranoid," she finally said, "And it's manifesting itself in your dreams?"

"I wish it could be that simple." If she wasn't dead by the time Trowa got to her, she would be dead soon. I felt a tightness around my heart at that thought and Anax put her hand above my heart. The thing was, this dream had been different. I didn't actually sense her death in my dream. She had still been alive…she was just leaking bloody buckets into the ocean. From her head. But then again, I wasn't entirely sure if it _had_ been coming from her head. It could have just been the water flowing in that direction which made it look that way.

"I wonder why Milliardo wanted to see Relena last night?" I asked into the silence, wanting to change the topic. I frowned and said, "I think he has a crush on her."

Anax's was silent for a moment, probably debating on whether to pursue my dream further, but then she finally smiled cheekily. Before I knew it, she doubled over in laughter. "You…you really don't know, Heero?"

"Know what, exactly?" I asked, confused.

"Relena is one of Milliardo's descendents. Peacecraft is an old political family, Heero, though while he was alive, Milliardo was known as Zechs Merquise. He had been friends with Monsieur D'Arcy McGee."

I picked up on the word "had" and questioned her about it. She was usually more careful about her phrasing.

"Heero!" she gasped in mock horror, "I'm surprised you're such a gossip! Well, if you must know, Zechs Merquise used to work with McGee for the New Era newspaper. You weren't born yet, but during that time, Zechs supported McGee's desire for independence from Britain. They were both pretty radical about the whole thing."

"Milliardo's not Irish, is he?"

"No. Although he used to pretend he was. When McGee toned down his radicalism, Zechs went his own way." She stopped after that and there was silence for a long while. I watched the fire crackle and sighed.

"You're not going to tell me anything more, are you?"

She smiled mysteriously and started combing my hair with her fingers. She was always like that; giving me pieces of the puzzle but never completing it herself. It was annoying, but it kept me on my toes, I guess. Besides, I should know my history better than this.

"Okay, since you won't give me anymore clues, can we play a game?"

"What kind of game?" she asked archly.

"Twenty questions. I ask you questions and you say yes or no." She pursed her lips and smiled an affirmative.

"Okay, did Zechs kill McGee?"

Anax threw up her hands and sighed in frustration. "You can never just keep the game going, Heero! It's called twenty questions for a reason. At least ask three questions!"

"No," I said, then smirked as I justified myself: "What's the use? You set up the situation so that I couldn't help but ask that _one_ question."

"Yeah, but you're the one who wanted to play the game! Why not ask if they were lovers, for instance."

"Umm….were they lovers?" She looked at me in exasperation and told me to ask Milliardo myself. Fine.

"I don't understand. McGee was assassinated by some Fenian sympathizer named Patrick something-or-other, right?"

"Heero," she said and pinched my nose. "Stop trying to pretend you're naïve. Even back then, the media controlled mass reaction. It's not the first time scapegoats have been used for convenience." Don't I know it. I rubbed my nose and feigned hurt. She pinched my nose again.

"I just can't equate Milliardo with Zechs. He's not in the history books, is he? Being a politician and all…"

"He's pretty old Heero, but when he was turned, I imagine his life was similar to how Relena's is right now. He had to stop being the son of the Peacecrafts so that he wouldn't be written into history. Another thing they have in common." Ouch. That struck me harder than I was willing to admit. I hadn't wanted to hurt Relena but it was too late for regrets now. She was just another lost child like the rest of us.

"Well, that and they're both pretty wild sexually. Mr. Merquise was a virile young stallion…"

"I _don't_ need to know the details of his sex life, Anax. Or Relena's for that matter" I interrupted, thoroughly disturbed.

She smirked but continued, "Anyway, Relena stems from him directly, which is why he's so interested in her. I think she's his great great granddaughter…or something."

"Is that the only reason for his interest?"

"Hmm…"

"And does he really expect me to buy that whole 'I wanted to kidnap her' act?"

"Well, at least you know it's only an act," she said mysteriously and left it at that. I lay back down on her lap but she pushed me off gently, saying she was going to tend her deadly nightshades. I resettled on the cushions and closed my eyes. We were truly a pair, my consort and I. I first started trusting her after she had openly admitted to being a plant and poisons expert. Ridiculous, really, if I think about it long enough.

"_Belladonna poisoning."_

"_What?" I turned to Anax who was holding a sheaf of paper in her hands._

"_Belladonna poisoning," she repeated, "I killed her using deadly nightshade."_

_I was thoroughly confused. "Who and what exactly are we talking about?"_

"_You've been out of it this whole time?" I guess she had been talking to me for a while then. She blew the bangs from her face and continued exasperated, "I'm talking about Sachi. Remember her? The girl you turned a couple of years ago to replace your mother figure? Tried to make you push up daisies just half a day ago?" Anax could be horribly blunt sometimes._

_I nodded wearily. I was still recovering from Sachi's attack last night. She had hired skilled assassins for me and I was surprised enough by the betrayal that they were able to pre-empt my initial retaliation and successfully infiltrate my personal bubble, enough to nick me a couple of heavy hits, anyway. That was unacceptable and things just went downhill for them afterward._

"_Did you know," Anax asked wistfully, "Women used deadly nightshade extract to dilate their pupils. It made them look more…interesting to the opposite sex. What idiots."_

"_You know witchcraft? How do you know all this stuff?"_

_She snorted and bent forward to kiss me on my forehead. "It's called knowledge-in-the-name-of-self-interest."_

_I realized then that she must have been really annoyed the whole time Sachi had been living with us. No wonder she finally took matters into her own hands when Sachi gave her the opportunity._

"_Why didn't you tell me?" I asked in wonder._

"_Would you have listened? You would have accused me of jealousy. Besides, it's more fun this way. Then I can say I told you so." She was smirking now and I covered my head with the blankets, hiding from whatever was in her eyes._

My cell phone rang and I jumped up, trying to locate it. It was upstairs in my room. We lived in an old house with several rooms. Both Julian and Relena had rooms on the ground floor, although Julian took the room facing the lake. He was in love with the view.

Anax and I had our own rooms, but in the past, and sometimes now, we would share her bed on the second floor. My room was in the attic, and though I sometimes allowed others to enter, no one has ever spent the night with me there. It was my personal sanctuary and to allow others to enter would have been tantamount to bearing parts of my soul not meant for public consumption. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, though.

I took the steps two at a time, the rest of the house blurring past me. Our home was pretty nice and neat, but my own room was a little bit more…lively. When I got to my room, there were papers strewn all over my desk by the bed. School papers mostly.

I had to rummage through the mess on my desk to locate the phone. It was a message from Wufei. I sighed. On top of vampire politics, Relena-related woes and school, I had Wufei. He was a giant of a man, with black hair and fierce almond eyes. He used to be the chief executive officer of a top computer company before he stepped down to make time for his family. Now he just made monthly trips to California to make sure things were running smoothly. Unfortunately, when this happened, I was left to baby-sit his outrageous, teenaged, _human _son, unsuitably named Wufei Jr.

Don't get me wrong. I like him and all, but where Wufei Sr. is judicious, Wufei Jr.—I often referred to him as Junior—was impetuous and blunt. He had his moments of tact, but they were few and far between. The fact that he knew about us—something that I had warned Wufei would _not_ be a good idea to share, but he went and told his son regardless—didn't make things any easier. He liked to point out things about vampire culture that were repugnant to humanity. As if I didn't know. As if I didn't think about these things enough.

Wufei was going to leave tomorrow for California and asked if I could watch his son in his absence. His voice was a little strange, but I was annoyed enough that I told him, in a dry voice, "Thanks for the last minute notification."

I sighed. I was not having a very good day, but knew I couldn't take it out on my friend. I agreed and he muttered his gratefulness. I hadn't known him as long as Julian, Anax or Trowa, but I valued his friendship. His son was another matter, but I figured, "Hey, he has to have the same genes in there somewhere."

I usually stayed in my condo when Junior came over because I hated the tension he caused at the house. If Relena was around, he often picked fights with her. It wasn't hard to tell he had a humongous crush on the girl and that he was extremely pissed off about it. I don't know if it's because she's a vampire, or if it's for some other reason only the two of them know about. I once asked Relena what she thought of Junior and she'd simply laughed without answering the question.

So if Trowa retrieves Relena without any problems, I had to deal with both of them in the same house. Lucky me. I probably wouldn't have minded if it was just Relena, or just Junior, but both at the same time is a little too much. Have I mentioned how much I despise troublesome fools?

>>>>>

I could hear Relena moaning in the background. After Trowa deposited her at the house early in the morning, I checked her vital signs. She seemed to be doing okay, so I kept her in her room with Doctor Stantonovic—Doctor S for short—standing guard. We should have moved her to the upstairs guestroom where Junior was supposed to stay. Her cries were not making the atmosphere around the dinner table any pleasanter. Anax sat in front of Junior with a smirk on her face.

Yesterday, when I'd told Anax we would be having Junior for dinner, her smile grew wider and she'd licked her lips in anticipation. It was a joke, I knew, but for Junior, who was now staring stonily at his plate of canton noodles—which Anax had managed to make look like a puddle of brain goop—the joke fell a little bit flat. I sighed.

"Eat your dinner Wufei," I said in my neutral monotone.

He looked up then, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, glaring at both of us. "How do I know you haven't poisoned the food?"

Anax burst out laughing. "Wufei," she cooed, then leaned toward him, whispering, "Would I do that to you?"

Junior jumped up from his seat, pushing his plate away and folding his arms over his chest. "I'd rather starve, thank you," he said in tightly controlled anger. I could understand his rage. She'd been looking at him like dinner since he arrived.

"Wufei," she paused, looking for the right words, "I've decided that you don't deserve your father's name. I hereby dub you Monsieur Blind Bat."

I think Junior was just a little offended. He took his fork and struck the pointed end on the piece of chicken on his plate. You could almost see smoke coming out of his ears. I watched all this with a bit of amusement. I know I shouldn't let it go on for long, but sometimes, Junior's antics were the only things keeping us laughing in this house.

He was about to do his trademark "Woman, I'm gonna spoon your eyes out!" growl when he simply "hmphed" and sat down with a loud plop.

Silence ensued. I didn't know what to make of it. Junior usually performed his scripted lines with disciplined regularity, varying them now and then to add a little bit of diversity, but resignation and a "hmph!" were deviations from his normal behaviour. I drank my cup of tea in silence.

After an awkward dinner, I saw Junior studying in his room. Well, attempting to study is more like it. The book was open but he was staring out the window. I didn't want him becoming a brooder and I said so. He was startled enough that the book fell ungracefully from his hands, but he let it go.

I leaned against his bedroom door, noticing that we had to patch up that crack in the wall joint next to the window next summer. It's been a long time since I've done any house renovating.

"You're still there?" he asked glumly while I continued my silent debate on the colours of the room.

I entered the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Wufei was usually a boiling mass of prejudice and scorn, not this despondent child sitting down. He wasn't exactly pouting. It would be the end of the world if anyone ever caught him doing that outside of his toddler years, but the look reminded me of when he was nine years old, trying to keep a strong appearance in the face of his mother's death and his father's odd change.

"Do you need someone to talk to, Wufei?" I wasn't exactly a prime candidate for empathetic heart-to-heart talks, but I had my moments.

I could almost see the scornful snort coming out of his nose, but he aborted it almost as soon as it started.

"How could you do it?" he asked me in a fierce whisper, looking into my eyes in challenge. So we were back at square one again. This was a common question and a common theme whenever we spoke. He was basically asking me why I had transformed his father. I clenched my right fist once, twice, then forced it to stillness.

"Why are you always asking the same questions? I would have thought this topic's practically exhausted itself on our special squabble altar" I said dryly.

"I just want to understand. You must have done it for some kind of gain. The obvious answer is that he was there at the right moment when you wanted to feed, or was it the other way around? You were there at the right moment." His eyes narrowed and he added, "I know you."

I'm sorry, but no you don't kid. I sighed. He wanted me to reveal some sinister plot on my part; he wanted me to admit that I had something to do with his mother's death and the assassination attempt on his father. I hadn't even known Wufei Sr. eight years ago.

"Okay, you're right. I hurt your family so I could take your dad's computers and sell them in the Black Market." It couldn't hurt to try a little black humour with this one. Actually, he looked just about ready to explode.

"Don't play around! I'm not some stupid kid!"

I knew that, but he certainly wasn't lacking in the blind bat department either. Anax had him down to a tee. He talked and accused, words pouring out of him and back like echolocation; anything I said had no effect on his outlook. He loathed me and probably would for the rest of his life. I didn't want that for him and I told him so.

"I'm sure you're used to hate by now," he mocked. "People only do things for profit. What motivated you to "rescue" my father that night?" He did the little floating quotations with his fingers. "Were you..." he paused, blushing and hating himself for it, but continued, "Did you kill my mother? Were you guys lovers?"

He spat the last word out as if the idea was despicable. Okay, I guess if you thought your father was being screwed by a vampire you thought killed your mother so he can have your father for himself, it makes sense for him to be so negative about it. But damn it! Was this what he was thinking the whole time? No wonder he hated me.

"I can tell you right now with certainty that your father and I have never been nor _will we ever be_ lovers." If the situation wasn't so severe, I probably would be laughing right now. The very idea of Wufei Sr. and I as lovers was laughable. He was one of _mine_, and I always made it a point never to have sexual relations with those I've transformed. That was just wrong, since I came to see those who were _mine_ as my family—though I admit that between the two of us, Wufei Sr. felt more like my senior than the other way around. I suspect that isn't going to change anytime soon. He just has a way about him that screams, "I'm the daddy!"

In any case, I couldn't tell Junior that he was the reason I transformed his father. As he lay dying, the man looked at me with unshed tears in his eyes, begging for his son's life. How could I refuse?

"But I heard you like…guys…in your bed…"

"So? Do you have a problem with that, especially since it has nothing to do with your father? Do you think I go around eyeing the ass of anything that has a stick between its legs? Shit Wufei! What do you think I am? Some kind of horny vampiric toad?"

Okay, I guess that last wasn't necessary, but honestly, when was this guy going to ever let up? I'm reduced to using idiotic terms every time I'm forced to defend something I don't have any heart to defend. Vampirism? As I've mentioned before, it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

He looked like he was going to say yes, so I held up my hand for silence. "I think," I said slowly, "that it's time for me to go to bed." I turned to leave when he called me to wait.

He was standing now, his mouth in an almost-pout. His eyes shifted to the side and he asked if he could use my phone. I quirked an eyebrow at him. This was how our relationship worked: he would rail into me for all the bad things I've done—even things I haven't—and then he would act like we hadn't just been in the middle of a cracked conversation.

I handed him my cell and turned to leave again. I closed the door and leaned against it with my eyes closed. I could hear him talking quietly on the phone. If I extend my senses, I would be able to hear the conversation, but I didn't even bother. It would just be another thing to add to my impossibly long list of offenses against the Chang family.

Junior opened his door and gave me back the cell phone. He thanked me through gritted teeth and then, to my surprise, asked if he could see Relena. When I first told him that Relena was injured and bed-ridden, he immediately assumed I was responsible. I wanted to choke him sometimes. How can anyone be so blindly hateful? I shouldn't really be surprised though. He was only a microcosm of blind hatred. I don't know why that made me so sad. It's not like I expected him to be close to me or anything.

I told him that seeing her right now wouldn't be a good idea. I didn't elaborate. Even though he was seventeen years old, it didn't mean he was ready to see the effects of trauma so up close and personal. I don't think anyone is ever really ready.

Relena didn't look like herself, and he would have nightmares for weeks. The doctors at the hospital had to cut through her burnt tissues to restore her pulse, so now she had lateral and medial lines running through her body. She was swollen and red, and even after being treated for hypovolemia, there was still the chance that edema could compromise her circulation. Doctor S was adamant about keeping her intubated since the skin of her head and neck was swollen tightly enough to restrict or even completely block her airway. I was a little scared for her, but Relena could be a tough little fighter when she wanted to be, and I was banking on that spunk to get her through this mess.

Junior backed down and gave me a glare before shutting the door on my face.


End file.
